A Whopper for Lunch

After well over a year, I will return to my favorite heart-destroying fast-food chain, Burger King. In short, I — along with many others — have been boycotting The King because the company was participating in literal slavery. Fortunately, the burger chain had a “Come to Jesus” meeting (read: legal actions) and repented. Here is the story from Sojourners…

“The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) announced Friday that, after a prolonged and often heated campaign, the second-largest burger chain has agreed to pay farm workers an extra 1.5 cents per pound of tomatoes picked, the equivalent of a 71 percent increase in wages.

This agreement was reached after a large coalition of faith and labor groups, including Sojourners, started targeting the company with letters and boycotts. In fact, since last June more than 25,000 activists sent more than 125,000 letters to Burger King executives.

Burger King is the last of the three largest fast-food companies to agree to the pay increase, following McDonald’s and Yum Brands, which owns Taco Bell. The agreement also includes a pledge that Burger King will have zero tolerance for growers in its supply chain that act unlawfully – a good precaution, given that some in south Florida have been indicted for holding tomato pickers in literal slavery.

Burger King’s agreement is a long-awaited victory that comes after a year in which they unconscionably stalled and obstructed other companies from coming on board. Burger King made $2.23 billion in profits in 2007 – and, in the end, the company estimated that its tomato justice agreement will cost just $300,000 annually.

This agreement is a step toward fair labor practices for farm workers across our country, and an example to all companies that have exploitative policies in need of change.”